Facing Cultural Brokenness

I was going to let this percolate a while before putting anything down, as there are lots of things to think about and connections that can't be made in an immediate response, but I think holding it in is adversely affecting my health, so all plans are off. Here goes.

Smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone.

Yesterday on Twitter was one of those days where you keep getting the same long-read link from unrelated people on your timeline. I usually try to avoid these, as they're time sinks which only add to the sense of global despair, but after enough iterations I finally clicked on the link. I provide it here for you if you're interested: it took me nearly three hours to read (with occasional breaks; I suggest breaks) so do be advised what you're getting into before crossing that threshold.

The Ghosts of St Joseph's Catholic Orphanage

TL;DR: Basically every orphanage horror story you can think of, in this case at an institution in Vermont run by the Sisters of Providence, with a dash of clerical sexual abuse, which is all the rage these days. The frame story is a group of orphanage survivors taking the Church to court over what happened there, and their long frustrating legal battle, but the history of the place is laid out in flashbacks and testimony.

Part of the reason I finally clicked that link was that the sample image embedded with the preview on Twitter. It's of a nun in a habit with a big padded wimple, showing a group of happy children the new elevator. I recognised that wimple – it appears in an old family group photo, taken, I think, when my mother was about 5. It was my job to dust, and one bookcase was covered in old photos, so I saw it every week. I know I was told multiple times who it was but I don't remember now; I think it must have been my grandmother's sister, of which more later. I'd forgotten it until seeing this link.

( Thus ensued much pondering ... )